Demonstrators put in jail

Demonstrators put in jail

DILI, East Timor: The district court sentenced two East
Timorese yesterday to a total of 49 months in prison for staging
an anti-government demonstration in January.

The convicts, 22-year-old Alfedro and 23-year-old Jose
Hendriques, got 24 months and 25 months respectively. They are
considering an appeal, Antara reported.

The judge said that the sentences meted out to the defendants
are more lenient than they deserve. But because they have never
been jailed before, he added, they were still young enough to
repent.

The verdict stated that the demonstration, which took place at
the University of East Timor, had put the Indonesian government
under international scrutiny and that the protesters sowed hatred
toward the government.

At the separate trials of two more students being tried for
the same offense, the defendants insisted that the government
return the bodies of those killed on Nov. 12, 1991, when about 50
people were killed in a bloody demonstration. (pan)